Hello all, I have 50 lbs of lead bars as ballast in the area behind the seat on my CSC friendship II the weight bag is at approximately the midline of the sidecar, reading the posts regarding the placement of ballast the further away from the bike the better, since it acts as a lever. on my hack, if I place the cordura bag of weights in the area on top of the fender well, on the inside, it would be directly over the tire, there is an empty space there, covered by carpet , big enough to fit the ballast. the only thing, is it will be about10" above the floor of the sidecar on top of the fiberglass inner fender. I know lower is better, but how would this affect handling? Thanks Rick
Imagine a ten pound weight. No biggie to pick up. Now mount it on a 10 ft pole and try to lift it. You now are picking up 100 pounds.You may have already been aware of this so don't be offended of my simple explanation of a lever arm.
Robert
absolutely no offense taken, I appreciate the explanation, Saltydog. Rick.
Bigbikerrick - 1/17/2010 11:07 PM
absolutely no offense taken, I appreciate the explanation, Saltydog. Rick.
I'm deeply offended. I may never recover. LOL
As to the weight, a few inches of higher vertical placement will make much less difference than a few inches of horizontal placement. Harley placed the weight over the outer spring when they were selling weights. I put mine in the same location but raised it 1-3/4" and put if 2" farther out on a cantilever mount to miss the tub since the later HD sidecars went to a single spring. That lowered the tub about 2".
So, IMHO, your idea about putting the weight out farther in that compartment is a good one. Just make sure that the compartment is strong ehough to hold the weight and that it's secured against moving on rough roads.
Thanks, I am going to give it a try, Rick
I am new at this, but for ballast when the sidecar is empty I use two five gallon collapsible plastic water containers and seat belt them in the passenger seat. If I pick up a passenger I can just empty & collapse the containers to store them away. Al through having the ballast weight further outboard is better.
